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One in a Thousand
The Life and Death of Captain Eddie McKay, Royal Flying Corps
Graham Broad (Author)
9781442607460
Paperback / softback, published 20 March 2017
208 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.32 kg
"Professor Broad’s extensive notes on how to identify relevant source materials, how to pose questions, and how to assemble a book into a coherent story are invaluable." "Broad offers a very important study of both the history and historiography of one pilot’s experiences in the RFC during two of the most critical years of the air war over the Western Front. The relevance of his work is not confined to aviation or military history scholars but the non-specialist reader as well. His academic research, unique methodological approach, and use of primary and secondary sources are first-rate."
This short microhistory details the life and death of Eddie McKay, a varsity athlete at Western University, who flew with the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War. Graham Broad switches creatively from telling McKay's fascinating story to teaching valuable lessons on how to do history: why the past matters, why historians take different approaches, how to pose historical questions, how to identify relevant source materials, and the importance of thoughtful, intelligent, and respectful treatment of historical subjects. The book includes a timeline of the subject's life, a map of relevant combat areas in the Battle of the Somme, and nine illustrations. It concludes with four unsolved events in McKay's life: a mysterious woman, a strange advertisement for batteries, an empty envelope, and an unknown grave—demonstrating that even a detailed history about one person's life is never really complete.
Acknowledgements 1. To Western and to War: 1892–1916 Appendix: The Mysteries
Timeline
Introduction
Historians and Their Sources
Historians and Fact Finding
2. Over the Somme: July–October 1916
Triangulation and Reading Against the Grain
3. The Battle, October 28, 1916—March 14, 1917
Mentalité and the Military Past
4. The Choice: March 15–December 28, 1917
Thinking about Thoughts: The Past as a Foreign Country
5. The Letter: January 1918–July 31, 1932
Historians, Historical Ethics, and the End of History
Selected Bibliography
Index